For most of his tenures in the WWF and WCW, he was managed by his real life wife "Miss Elizabeth" Hulette.[1] Savage was recognizable by wrestling fans for his distinctively deep and raspy voice, his ring attire, intensity exhibited in and out of the ring, and his signature catch phrase, "Ooh yeah!".[1] WWE has said of Savage, "Few Superstars were as dynamic as "Macho Man" Randy Savage. His style – perfectly punctuated by his entrance music, 'Pomp and Circumstance' – was only outshined by his performances in the ring."[3] Savage died of cardiac arrhythmia while driving with his second wife Barbara Lynn Payne, in Seminole, Florida on the morning of May 20, 2011.

Savage was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a catcher out of high school.[12] He was placed in the minor leagues to develop, where he mostly played as an outfielder[13] in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox farm systems.[4] Savage was 18 when he began playing minor league baseball; one of his teammates on the 1971 Gulf Coast League Cardinals was Larry Herndon who was also his roommate.[12] Savage would swing a bat into a hanging car tire as a regular training exercise in order to strengthen his hands and make sure he utilized his legs during swings, the technique was so effective that Herndon adopted it and used it during his own career as a baseball coach.[12] Savage injured his natural (right) throwing shoulder after a collision at home plate, and he learned to throw with his left arm instead. The team was managed by Jimmy Piersall.[14] Savage's last season was 1974, when he played for the Tampa Tarpons.[13] He played 289 games in four minor league seasons, batting .254 with 16 home runs and 66 RBIs.[12]

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Savage (right) prepares to face off against Roberto Soto in a match held in Macon, Georgia on August 23, 1977.[15]

Savage first broke into the wrestling business in 1973 during the fall and winter of the baseball off season.[1] His first wrestling character, "The Spider", was similar to Spider-Man.[1] He later took the ring name Randy Savage at the suggestion of Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) bookerOle Anderson, who said that the name Poffo did not fit someone who "wrestled like a savage".[1] Savage eventually decided to end his baseball career and become a full-time wrestler, working with his brother and father.[1] He wrestled his first match against midwest territory wrestler, "Golden Boy" Paul Christy. Savage worked with his father and brother in Michigan, the Carolinas, Georgia, the Maritimes, and the eastern Tennessee territory run by Nick Gulas.[5]

Savage's feud with Steele began on the January 4, 1986 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, when Steele developed a crush on Miss Elizabeth.[20] At WrestleMania 2, Savage defeated Steele in a match to retain his Intercontinental title.[21] He resumed his feud with Steele in early 1987, culminating in two Intercontinental title matches, both won by Savage.[22][23]

Savage wrestled Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III in the Pontiac Silverdome. After 19 two-counts, Steamboat pinned Savage (with help from George Steele, who pushed Savage from the top rope seconds before he was pinned) to end his near 14-month reign as Intercontinental champion.[24][25] The match was extremely choreographed, as opposed to the "on the fly" nature of most wrestling matches at the time.[1] Savage was a stickler for detail, and he and Steamboat laid out and rehearsed every spot in the match prior to WrestleMania, at his home in Florida.[1] The match was named 1987's Match of the Year by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer. Steamboat and Savage were seen cheering with and hugging other wrestlers after the match.[1][5]

The Mega Powers and Macho King (1987–1991)

Savage won the King of the Ring tournament later in 1987.[26] He also started acting less hostile toward the fans and Miss Elizabeth. When The Honky Tonk Man declared himself "the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time", Savage began a feud with him to get the title back. On the October 3, 1987, edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, he got his shot at The Honky Tonk Man and the Intercontinental Championship, but lost out on the title when The Hart Foundation, who along with Honky were managed by Jimmy Hart, interrupted the match, getting Honky disqualified. In the ensuing beatdown, Miss Elizabeth got Hulk Hogan to save him, leading to the formation of "The Mega Powers."[27][28]

The Mega Powers' main feuds were with The Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and André the Giant), whom they defeated in the main event of the first-ever SummerSlam pay-per-view event,[34][35] and The Twin Towers, a tag team composed of super-heavyweights Big Boss Man and Akeem. In the case of the latter feud, Savage frequently became involved in Hogan's matches involving one of the two villains (and vice versa); the two rival factions captained opposing teams in the main event of the 1988 Survivor Series, which was won by the Mega Powers.

Problems between Savage and Hogan developed, however, in early 1989 after Hogan also took Elizabeth as his manager.[28] At the Royal Rumble, Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match and they started to fight until Elizabeth separated them.[36] On the February 3, 1989 edition of The Main Event, Savage turned on Hogan, getting jealous over Miss Elizabeth and his self-perceived third wheel standing in the Mega Powers. He later abandoned Hogan during a tag team match against the Twin Towers, though Hogan picked up the win in the end.[37]

Savage adopted the moniker "Macho King" after defeating Jim Duggan for the King of the Ring title in September 1989 (Duggan in turn had won it from Haku).[43] On a later wrestling episode, he had a coronation as the new "King of the WWF" led by wrestler The Genius (actually Savage's brother, Lanny Poffo), in which Ted DiBiase gave him a scepter as a gift. Savage would use that scepter as a weapon numerous times. The "Macho King" and Hulk Hogan met one last time (intended to end their ongoing year long feud), when Savage got a shot at Hogan's WWF Championship on the February 23, 1990 edition of The Main Event.[44] The pinfall was counted by new heavyweight boxing champion Buster Douglas despite Savage kicking out at two, Douglas then punched Savage in the face after Savage confronted and then slapped Douglas.

In late 1990, Savage started a feud with then-WWF champion The Ultimate Warrior. The feud escalated at Royal Rumble 1991, when Warrior refused to promise Savage the right to challenge him for the title, should Warrior defend it successfully against Sgt. Slaughter (Slaughter had already granted Savage this opportunity, should he beat Warrior). Savage had sent Sensational Queen Sherri out before the match to try to persuade the Warrior to promise this in a face-to-face interview laced with sexual innuendos, but was unsuccessful. Outraged, Savage promised revenge, which he got during the Slaughter-Warrior title match. Before the match began, Randy "Macho King" Savage attacked the champion, resulting in the Ultimate Warrior having to crawl to the ring. Later, Savage ran out to the ring and smashed the sceptre over Warrior's head, (knocking him unconscious for Slaughter to pin), and then immediately sprinted back to the locker room.[47] The events at the Royal Rumble led to a career-ending match at WrestleMania VII, which Savage lost.[48] After the match, Savage was attacked by Queen Sherri as he lay dejected in the ring.[1] This was too much for Miss Elizabeth who happened to be in the audience.[4] Elizabeth rushed to Savage's aid, fighting off Sherri and reuniting with her one-time love to huge crowd appreciation.[1] Despite his retirement from active wrestling, Savage stayed in the WWF in an non-wrestling capacity while the Ultimate Warrior was fired by Vince McMahon after SummerSlam later that year.[1]

WWF Champion and teaming with Ultimate Warrior (1991–1992)

Savage returned to television in a non-wrestling role as the "Macho Man" after WrestleMania VII as a broadcaster. Meanwhile the storyline with Miss Elizabeth continued, culminating with Savage proposing to her in the ring leading to an on-air wedding at SummerSlam 1991 dubbed The Match Made in Heaven. It was at this time that Savage was targeted by Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who was by now a villain. On an edition of Prime Time Wrestling prior to SummerSlam, the announcers and several wrestlers threw a "bachelor party" for Savage, with Roberts' arrival deemed unwelcome by the rest of the contingent.[49]

In the post-SummerSlam wedding reception, Roberts and his new ally, The Undertaker, made their presence known by hiding a live snake in one of the newly married couple's wedding presents; Elizabeth was frightened when she opened the gift box, and the Undertaker blindsided Savage by knocking him out with the urn. Sid Justice ran off both Roberts and The Undertaker. Savage, still unable to compete due to his WrestleMania VII loss to the Ultimate Warrior, immediately began a public campaign to have himself reinstated as an active wrestler to gain revenge on Roberts; however, WWF president Jack Tunney refused. Meanwhile, Roberts cut a series of promos berating Savage. The feud began to boil over during a television taping for WWF Superstars of Wrestling October 21 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, when Roberts cut an in-ring promo to goad Savage – who was providing TV commentary – into the ring. After he was lured into the ring, Roberts attacked Savage, eventually tying Savage into the ropes before getting a live cobra to bite his arm.

Savage then urged fans to lobby Tunney to reinstate him, under the rallying cry "Reinstatement! That's the plan! Reinstate the Macho Man!" In response, Tunney reinstated Savage and announced a match between him and Roberts for the This Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view event. Savage won the match,[50] and the two continued to brawl afterward. The feud continued throughout the winter, ending after a match on the February 8, 1992 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, which Savage won;[51] Roberts had planned a backstage ambush of Savage and Elizabeth after losing the match, but was stopped by The Undertaker.

Savage then began an onscreen feud with WWF Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. According to the storyline, Flair claimed that he had slept with Savage's wife Miss Elizabeth, going as far as presenting pictures of Elizabeth and Flair together. This culminated in a title match at WrestleMania VIII; Savage won the match and his second WWF Championship.[52][53][54]

During this time, Savage and Elizabeth separated in real life, and Elizabeth made her final WWF appearance on April 19, 1992 at the UK Rampage pay-per-view, where Savage defended his WWF Championship against Shawn Michaels.[55] However, the Savage-Flair feud continued, keeping the Flair-Elizabeth television storyline intact until Elizabeth's final WWF appearance (the UK Rampage match between Savage and Michaels) aired on WWF Prime Time Wrestling in June. About this same time, WWF Magazine published photos of Savage and Elizabeth, which were identical to those featuring Elizabeth and Flair; it was revealed that Flair had doctored the Savage-Elizabeth pictures. The former couple were divorced on September 18, 1992.

For the better part of 1992, Savage and his old nemesis Warrior (who returned to the WWF at Wrestlemania VIII), peacefully co-existed. However, when it was announced that Warrior was the new Number One Contender for Savage's WWF Championship, old tensions resurfaced and they had several heated exchanges prior to the match. Savage defended the title against Ultimate Warrior at SummerSlam 1992. Savage lost the match by countout, after having his knee injured by Flair and Mr. Perfect but retained the championship. After the match Warrior helped a badly injured Savage to the back.[56][57] On the September 14 episode of Prime Time Wrestling (taped September 1), Savage lost the WWF title to Flair after interference by Razor Ramon.[49]

He formed a tag team with The Ultimate Warrior known as the "Ultimate Maniacs" after both men were attacked by Flair and Mr. Perfect during their match at SummerSlam. After his title loss shortly after, an injured Savage backed Warrior to be the man to dethrone Flair. On the November 8, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, they took on Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Money. Inc. lost by countout but retained their title.[58] Savage and Warrior were scheduled to face Flair and Ramon in a tag team match at Survivor Series 1992. Warrior was fired from the WWF weeks before the event, so Savage chose Mr. Perfect, executive consultant to Flair, as his partner to replace Warrior. Perfect initially laughed off the suggestion, but was angered by Bobby Heenan and his insinuations that he could never again wrestle at his previous level, and accepted the match. Despite initial distrust (an interview prior to the match had Savage admit to Perfect that he neither liked nor trusted him), the duo defeated Flair and Ramon via a disqualification.[59]

Color commentator and departure (1993–1994)

When Monday Night Raw began in January 1993, Savage served primarily as a color commentator, wrestling only occasionally against characters such as Doink, The Repo Man, Rick Martel, and Crush. However, he was the runner up in the Royal Rumble match at Royal Rumble 1993, where he was eliminated by Yokozuna.[60][61] He returned to pay-per-view at Survivor Series 1993 as a substitute for Mr. Perfect and competed in the 1994 Royal Rumble match. His last WWF pay-per-view appearance as a competitor was a victory over Crush in a Falls Count Anywhere match at WrestleMania X.[62] Savage also made periodic appearances in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion in fall 1994. Meanwhile, Savage was also a color commentator for the 1994 King of the Ring and made his final WWF pay-per-view appearance at the 1994 SummerSlam, where he served as the master of ceremonies. At the end of October 1994, Savage's WWF contract expired and he abruptly left to sign with the competing World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Randy Savage's final WWE appearance was on October 17, 1994 In Burlington, VT. Raw was Being taped for 3 weeks worth of programming and the last episode that was aired on October 31 would be Savage's last. During this episode, Bob Backlund was facing Lex Luger. During the match, Luger was attacked by Tatanka. Savage made the save and this upset Backlund. Then as the show was going off the air that night, Lex Luger was being interviewed backstage and Tatanka came out of nowhere and began to brawl with Luger. This was the last video footage aired of Macho Man. While off the air, Vince McMahon and Randy Savage were at ringside at the time watching the show from their monitors. Then Bob Backlund came out of the crowd, jumped the railing and attacked Randy Savage and put him in the crossface chicken wing. Savage was helped to the back after the incident. This was the last physical segment Savage would do in the WWF/WWE.[63]

World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)

Feud with Flair and first departure (1994–1996)

Savage signed with WCW, and his first appearance was on the December 3, 1994 edition of WCW Saturday Night prior to Starrcade. Savage made reference to the love/hate relationship he had with Hulk Hogan, then the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Savage eventually saved Hogan from an attack by the 3 Faces of Fear, shaking hands with his friend and rival. His first WCW feud was against Avalanche. At SuperBrawl V, he teamed up with Sting and took on Avalanche and Big Bubba Rogers in a tag team match, which Sting and Savage won.[64] However, his encounter with Avalanche continued and ended at Uncensored, with Savage getting the win by disqualification after a fan, who happened to be Ric Flair dressed in drag, attacked Savage.[65] This led to Savage and Flair resuming their earlier feud.

He participated in the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship tournament and went on to defeat The Butcher in the first round[66] and "Stunning" Steve Austin in the quarterfinals.[66] He interfered in Flair's match against Alex Wright, attacking Flair and causing Wright to get disqualified, which set up a tournament semifinal match in which the winner would face the winner of the Sting and Meng match for the United States Championship at the June 1995 Great American Bash. Savage and Flair's tournament semifinal match never took place however, due to Savage and Flair brawling in the backstage area prior to the match and being eliminated from the tournament.[66] They were instead given their own match in the main event, which Flair won.[67] Savage defeated Flair in a later Lifeguard Lumberjack match at Bash at the Beach.[68] Later that year, during part of the storyline in which Arn Anderson and Ric Flair turned on each other, Flair (looking for a partner to take on Anderson and Brian Pillman in a tag match) tried to recruit Savage to be his partner. Remembering the rivalry (and how Flair had attacked Savage's father, Angelo Poffo, which was the catalyst for their feud back in May), Savage refused.

In January 1996, Savage brought Elizabeth with him into WCW as his valet once again, but she turned on Savage in his last title loss to Flair. Thereafter, Flair claimed that Elizabeth had given him a sizable amount of Savage's money, taken in their divorce settlement, which Flair used to set up a "VIP section" at Monday Nitro events. Flair and Savage continued to feud until June 1996. At Bash at the Beach, the nWo was formed when Hulk Hogan turned on Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger and joined "The Outsiders", a tag team of former WWF wrestlers Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.[73] After their inception, one of their main enemies became Savage himself, who was one of the leaders of the WCW crusaders against the nWo before joining them a year later. At Halloween Havoc, Savage faced Hogan for the WCW title but lost when the Giant interfered and chokeslammed him.[74] Savage left WCW following the event, when he was unable to reach a new deal with the company.[75]

In early 1998, Savage started a feud with Lex Luger which culminated in a match at Souled Out, which Luger won.[82] Luger also won a rematch between the two at SuperBrawl VIII.[83] When Hogan failed to recapture his "nWo" Title from Sting, it was Savage's turn, and he got his shot at Spring Stampede. Hogan tried to make sure that Savage would not win the title because Hogan felt that he was the only nWo member who should be World Champion, since he was the leader of the stable. With the help of Nash, however, Savage beat Sting for his third WCW World Heavyweight Championship, despite tearing his ACL in his knee during the match.[84][85] The following night on Nitro, Hogan faced Savage for the championship. For a while it looked like Hogan had Savage beat,[86] but for the second consecutive night, Nash came to Savage's aid, powerbombing Hogan.[86] Savage tried to capitalize on this, but an interfering Bret Hart attacked Savage and preserved the victory for Hogan.[86] Savage then joined with Nash and others to form the nWo Wolfpac, a split from Hogan's group, which became known as nWo Black and Red (Wolfpac) and nWo Black and White (Hollywood).[87] Savage went on to feud with both Hart and Roddy Piper.[88][89]

Team Madness and final departure (1998–2000)

After the June 15 edition of Nitro, Savage took a hiatus from the company to recover from at least two major knee surgeries. He made only one more appearance in 1998, helping Ric Flair defeat Eric Bischoff for the Presidency of WCW on the December 28, 1998 edition of Monday Nitro.[90] When Savage returned, he debuted a new look and theme music, sporting a slicked back ponytail, earrings, and a new villainous attitude (though still embracing the fans), as well as introducing his then 22-year-old girlfriend Gorgeous George as his valet.[1] His first action was as the guest referee in the main event at Spring Stampede, which was won by Diamond Dallas Page.[1] For a short time afterward, Randy interfered in DDP's matches to make sure that Page kept his World Title, but when Kevin Nash won it at Slamboree, Savage went after the title himself.[4] It was around that time that Madusa and Miss Madness joined Macho Man as his other two valets; together they were known as Team Madness.[91]

At The Great American Bash, Sid Vicious returned to WCW and helped Macho Man attack Kevin Nash.[1] This led to a tag team match at Bash at the Beach between Nash and Sting against Savage and Sid Vicious, in which whoever scored the winning fall would win the WCW World Title. Savage won his fourth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship when he pinned Nash.[92] Savage's last reign as champion did not last long. The next night on Nitro, he lost the title to a returning Hollywood Hogan, when Nash interfered and powerbombed Macho Man (in a reversal of the situation from the previous year, in which Nash had attacked Hogan to help Savage keep his title, albeit unsuccessfully).[93]

Team Madness slowly started to disband, after Madusa and Miss Madness began fighting each other over who was responsible for Savage's title loss.[4] Savage soon fired both of them and started a feud with Dennis Rodman, defeating him at Road Wild.[94] Savage made his final WCW appearance on Thunder on May 3, 2000, where he participated in the 41-man battle royal for a title shot at The Great American Bash.

Savage had a sardonic side to his personality, which was recalled by former WCW television commentator Mark Madden after Savage's death:

"Once, with WCW's entire roster on a charter plane experiencing EXTREME turbulence – a few girls were CRYING, a few guys were SHAKING – Randy broke the tension by saying, 'Just think of the rating the memorial show's gonna draw, boys – OOOH, YEAH!' "

Acting career

Savage was cast in the 2002 film Spider-Man as the wrestler Bonesaw McGraw (based on the comics character Crusher Hogan). He made an appearance as himself in the movie Ready to Rumble and played character Jim Davies in Velcro Revolver. As a voice actor he voiced the rogue alien wrestler "Rasslor" in the Dexter's Laboratory shorts Dial M for Monkey. He also provided the voice of "The Thug", an agent in Disney's 2008 animated film Bolt, his last film appearance.

Music

Savage's music debut was on the WWF-produced WrestleMania: The Album in 1993, where he sang on the song "Speaking From The Heart", one of many songs sang by then-WWF wrestlers on the CD. Ten years later, on October 7, 2003, Savage released a rap album titled Be a Man. It includes a tribute to "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig as well as a diss track aimed at Hulk Hogan.[98] Savage promoted Be A Man with a concert tour featuring Brian Adams as his bodyguard and Ron Harris as touring manager. During this time, the development of a second album was already in progress with Savage exclaiming, "We are absolutely going to have more records."[99] However, no further albums were released.

Personal life

Savage married Elizabeth Ann Hulette on December 30, 1984. She later became his valet in the World Wrestling Federation. They separated in the summer of 1992; their divorce was finalized on September 18, 1992.[citation needed] On May 10, 2010, Savage married his long-time girlfriend, Barbara Lynn Payne.[100]

For years, Hogan and Savage were at odds and had an on again/off again friendship. According to Hogan, Jimmy Hart[101] and Randy's brother Lanny Poffo,[102] the two reconciled shortly before his death.[102] However, former wrestler The Ultimate Warrior disputed the reconciliation and stated that the relations between Hogan and Savage had been limited to some casual encounters.[103]

Initial reports of his death indicated that he had been killed in the collision,[106] when in fact he and his wife had been wearing seatbelts and suffered only minor physical injuries in the crash.[104] An autopsy performed by the Pinellas-Pasco County medical examiner's office found that he had an enlarged heart and advanced coronary artery disease (more than 90% narrowed). The only drugs found in his system were a prescription painkiller and a small amount of alcohol. Savage had never been treated for heart problems and there was no evidence that he was aware of his heart condition. It was unclear whether he had suffered a blockage in his coronary arteries or cardiac arrest from lack of oxygen to the heart muscle. The cause of death was officially ruled as "atherosclerotic heart disease".[104][107]

On May 30, 2011, 10 days after his death, WWE chairman Vince McMahon, with whom Savage had irreconcilable differences upon his departure from the company in 1994, paid tribute to Savage in a Time magazine article. There, he described Savage as "extremely charismatic", and "one of wrestling's all-time greats".[108][109] Savage's remains were cremated.[110]